Transcript
Speaker: Hello, I'm back, it's 2025 and here I am recording my first Behind the Chair podcast of 2025. As a 2025 bride and a makeup artist and hair stylist, wedding supplier, I've been in this industry industry industry for eight years and I'm finally doing it myself, I'm finally getting married. And let me tell you, it is,
Speaker: a journey. Getting married yourself as a wedding supplier, nobody could prepare me for the things that I've learned. I've learned so many lessons and I have a total newfound respect for brides, I genuinely do. And I actually think it's made me a better wedding supplier because I understand the simplicity of, not the simplicity, like I understand how I can make this journey easier for my brides.
Speaker: And I think it's made me a better supplier. So let me tell you about what I've learned. Firstly. All the decisions, the amount of decisions that you have to make as a wedding, and not a wedding supplier, you do actually have to make lots of decisions as a wedding supplier, but as a bride, the decision fatigue is real. I mean, I feel like everyone's heard about the decision fatigue, but until you're doing it, until you're making all these decisions, like things like,
Speaker: cutlery like who knew that I would even give two shits about cutlery before this like the fact that I actually have to think about the numbers of cutlery what it looks like glasses glass wet china china I didn't even really understand that like tableware was called china I know that sounds really dumb but you know like all these things like wow I'm becoming an adult now like it's It's real and it's it's fun, but it's a lot, a lot of decisions. So as a wedding supplier, one of my big goals this year is to try and make, for all my brides who are coming to me for the hair and makeup, is to try and make the process super straightforward and super easy for them. For me, it's my job behind the scenes to do all of the work in terms of hair and makeup.
Speaker: all of the prep, be as organized as possible so that my brides don't have to worry on the day. They just turn up, relax, get pampered, and they don't have to do anything else. And like, that is definitely one of my goals for 2025 as a business owner. But as a bride, well, let me tell you, I think, I don't know, my goal is to not be a bridezilla, not get too stressed, try and enjoy it, try and remember,
Speaker: that I'm getting married to the love of my life, to my soulmate and to my best friend. And that's what matters. It doesn't matter all the little silly things, the china and the glassware and all that stuff. It doesn't really matter at the end of the day. It matters in terms of people need to have china and people need to eat off something. um But apart from that, I don't really think it's that deep. and I think another thing that I've learned is getting the right supplier for you is so invaluable and like you can't really put a price on that. If you can find a wedding supplier the that works with you, understands you as a couple, priceless, totally priceless. So the advice I'd give to you if you're planning your own wedding,
Speaker: is do your research not just about the work that your wedding supplier does, but the sort of personality that your wedding supplier has. So have a chat with them and see if you feel like they get you as a couple, if their vision sort of suits your vision.
Speaker: And if their personality, yeah I think, fits with your personality as well. For example, if you've got a photographer that is really sort of militant and wants to get all of the family photographs and you're really into family photographs and you want to make sure that your dad, your grandma, your granny, Betsy and your aunt Fanny gets in the photos, then that's your thing. But for me, personally, as a photographer, what I'm looking for in my wedding is somebody who can gel with all the guests, somebody who's relaxed, someone who can have a bit of a laugh, someone who can be themselves, have their own personality and fit in in the crowd and not disrupt that sort of harmonious, relaxed atmosphere. That's my priority. And also someone who's bloody talented, which my photographer is. Lottie topping. Give you a shout out, hon. Love you. So yeah, I'm super excited for that. and
Speaker: If you want any other sort of tips on wedding suppliers, give me a message because let me tell you, I've worked with quite a few um in the wedding industry. It is quite a small world and you do get to work with quite a few different people. Now, I don't actually, really, I never get to meet like the entertainers. So actually finding the entertainment for my wedding was really, really strange and hard which i wasn't expecting um but i had a lovely recommendation from one of my brides last year and we booked them and we're really excited for that so yeah ask lots of questions ask your friends if you're looking for photographers or looking for your entertainer or anyone that you're looking for ask for recommendations do your research
Speaker: and Look at their website and yeah, that would be my advice. I've got so honestly I've learned so much I think I've kind of forgotten I should have really been taken notes and But that that I would say is one of the main takes that I've taken from it is to make sure that you do your research on your suppliers and don't and undervalue them make sure that you recognize that your suppliers work really hard and if you've chosen the right one for you, then they will be invaluable to you. um And then the other thing is is just making sure you remember what's important to you. So one bit of advice that we had right from the offset, and I was really glad for this advice, is a friend said to us, and have non -negotiables. So myself and my fiance spoke about what our non -negotiables for our wedding were.
Speaker: and two of them for us and well the main one yeah teddy likes it that's my cat teddy like joining in um one of them is was the entertainment so we were like we've got to have music and it's got to be fun and then the other one do you know what i can't even remember what the other one it was i think it was like food and drink or maybe it was like a free bar. That's great. I can't even remember what it is, but I think we've sorted it and it's fine. I think just generally the other one was food and drink and like a laid back atmosphere. I think that was the non -negotiables. And I think that what what that enables you to do is budget.
Speaker: for these things so I think a lot of people what they do is they say write out most of our budget or like a third of our budget is gonna go on these two things and then the rest of the budget ends up going on things that you wouldn't even expect. So let me give you an example. I wouldn't expect the chairs and the tables that we're hiring to be as expensive as they are. Because the thing is, is I'm giving them back. It's not like I'm buying them.
Speaker: which i don't I don't really get why they're so pricey when you give them back. That's one thing I don't quite understand, but you know, it's all fine. So yeah, if you have any questions, I think that's kind of it. I'm gonna wrap up. It's like been eight minutes of waffling on. And I think my next podcast is gonna be with a lovely florist who's local to me. I'm gonna talk all things, wedding flowers. So if you wanna check that out,
Speaker: subscribe and we'll be chatting about that. So I will see you soon. Bye bye. ah
